Chapter 529

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Chapter 529: Five Hundred Years Apart

Sasha’s recent mood can’t be described as good, it can only be described as generally terrible.

As the governing official of the bloodline, she has many responsibilities.

Within her authority, she cannot control everything, but she also cannot ignore everything.

Recently, she had to take care of the aftermath of the Gray Tide disaster. At the same time, due to Alena’s injury, she had to send her back to the Blood Saint Ancestral Land for recovery. After dealing with various matters, she had no time to focus on Michelle’s situation. She could only entrust it to the relevant personnel at the academy and let them prepare a report for regular updates.

Now it’s a new year again. In January, the Bloodline tribe will hold a meeting to remember. All the clan leaders will gather together. Although the Elder Council may not attend, most of the clans must attend.

The Bloodline population is still small, so naturally they tend to stick together for warmth. They have a rich history and mystery, which naturally attracts attention. The clan still maintains a family system, but there are also many interactions and exchanges of interests between the different families. The expenses for retirement, healthcare, public infrastructure, food, education, and other areas in the Blood Saint Ancestral Land are supported by the public fund pool managed by the Bloodline tribe.

Sasha and the Elder Council are in control of these assets. She must also settle the expenses for the past year, report to the higher-ups, and then publicly display them for everyone to see, ensuring transparency of the finances… In fact, she has only been in charge of these matters for less than a hundred years. Many previous leaders had biases and it was difficult to achieve complete fairness and transparency. They always wanted to take and steal some for themselves, and once they were not discovered, they would do it even more. Several times they nearly went bankrupt.

Recently, this busyness has finally quieted down a bit. The several days of reporting and public displays have ended. A general meeting for the community was then held to propose the focus of work and economic growth for the next year… Anyway, it’s finally over. She now has time to enjoy a few days of rare vacation. Europa’s New Year has a holiday that lasts for more than twenty days, and there are still a few days left. She went to the spa center to enjoy the internal services of the tribe.

The workers here are naturally all from the Bloodline. The Bloodline is also divided into several levels: Pureblood, High-rank, Common, and Low-rank.

The Pureblood Bloodline has disappeared in history. They were known as the Blood Saint tribe in the past, with many vampire characteristics: fearing sunlight and such. They were the pioneers of the dark races, like the first aquatic creatures to crawl onto land, breaking away from the wilderness and gradually developing civilization. They long relied on human blood as their food, which led to their evolution towards coexistence with humans. They became less like terrifying monsters and more and more like attractive humans, with handsome men and beautiful women.

At the extreme of the High-rank Bloodline, they can almost be called human. This level of bloodline is most suitable, as they have abandoned most weaknesses but retained most advantages. The Common Bloodline is weaker, able to use magic but mostly not very powerful. The potential varies from person to person, and almost all of them are considered geniuses compared to the High-rank Bloodline.

The Low-rank Bloodline belongs to a category of regression. Each race has individuals like this. The degeneration of magical power is closer to pure humans, and the inherent disadvantages of bloodline make it almost impossible to achieve success in certain areas. Most Low-rank Bloodlines work in the service industry within the tribe, and a small minority can enter management positions. But they are still members of the tribe. The descendants of Low-rank Bloodlines may also be Common Bloodlines. There is internal discrimination, but not severe.

Sasha uses the bloodline as a bond and manages the tribe. She splits the tribe into subordinate businesses called families, and with smooth circulation of economic benefits, the Bloodline’s life is getting better and better. As long as they maintain economic growth, most conflicts can be concealed through development.

Sasha squinted her eyes, thinking about the words her mentor used to repeat over and over again – "Economic foundation determines superstructure, development is the ultimate truth."

In the past, she listened without understanding, but now, after experiencing it herself, she knew it was all true.

After finishing a full-body massage, Sasha went to the changing room, ready to take a bath.

Blood Saint Ancestral Land has a long history of hot springs, known as the Holy Spring by the tribe. The color of the spring water is similar to blood, and it was chosen by the ancestors at first sight.

It indeed has special healing effects for the bloodline, but the blood-like color floating in the spring water is not actually blood, but a natural dye.

Once the truth was uncovered, its mystery quickly disappeared. So the Holy Spring was no longer considered sacred. After the elderly saw the analyzed data with a grimace, they agreed to Sasha’s development plan. And thus, this place was developed into a hot spring resort.

It is open to the public for four months every year and appointments are always fully booked. With strategic marketing, limited supply, excellent service, and high prices, this hot spring generates considerable revenue every year without much pressure on customer capacity.

Most of the time, it is reserved for personal use.

Sasha went to the changing room, took off her clothes, and stared at her youthful reflection in the mirror. She touched her cheek and felt its elasticity. She examined her skin, which was fair, smooth, and luminous. Checking her waist, abdomen, and hips, there were no signs of aging. Even she occasionally found it strange that blood descendants also aged. Most of the time, maintaining eternal youth is reserved for the pure-blooded Blood Saint race, while the elders who have lived for too long usually don’t look human anymore, no matter how many face masks they use.

In name, they lived for five hundred years, but their heart never turned into that kind of old monster.

Sasha wrapped herself in a towel and went to the hot spring pool, an outdoor pool separated for men and women. As she entered, she saw Alena floating in the water like a dead body.

"Is it fun?"

"It’s quite fun, feeling the buoyancy, going with the flow…" Alena closed her eyes.

Sasha ignored her niece’s weirdness and sat down at the edge, letting the water surround her body. She let out a sigh of contentment, and immediately heard the sound of flowing water.

Alena floated over and said, "Auntie, you look so young."

"Did you eat the imported mushrooms from the Ming Country in Yunnan? Your mouth is so sharp?"

"No, I don’t eat those." Alena’s face turned dark. In high school, she had a classmate who was of mixed Ming Country heritage. It was said that during summer vacation, they went to visit their grandma in the Ming Country and were warmly invited by the locals. They attended five mushroom banquets in a month, ended up in the hospital four times. The last time, they even went on their own, already familiar with the way to the hospital. The doctor didn’t even need to look at the mushroom identification chart to know what they had eaten.

And it didn’t end there. This classmate became addicted to mushrooms. They originally planned to bring some back, but they were confiscated at the Ming Country customs. When they returned to Europa, they continued eating wild mushrooms everywhere until one day they brought some fresh mushrooms to school and treated their classmates to a Ming Country specialty, cold tossed green beans. They claimed to have eaten it themselves and that it was not poisonous… This sparked a food poisoning incident involving dozens of people. It was also the first and only time Alena ever had food poisoning. She experienced intense hallucinations at the time, seeing red and green little people dancing everywhere.

Later, the hospital check confirmed that the student was not poisoned, not because he didn’t eat, but because he had developed immunity to the poison. This was because he had been poisoned too many times and his body had become strong and resistant, making him a rare mushroom hero.

Sasha reached out and pinched Alena’s leg, interrupting her memories of being poisoned.

"Ouch…" she scrunched her face and stood up, "it hurts."

"Your bones haven’t fully healed yet," Sasha said, "but it doesn’t affect your normal movements anymore. Walk around more, don’t sit in the wheelchair."

"Oh," Alena sat up and leaned against the edge of the pool, then moved closer again.

Sasha pushed her away, "Don’t get too close, you’re not usually this clingy."

"That’s usually, it’s different now," Alena blinked and continued to get closer. She was also young and always felt that Sasha looked younger than her. For the sake of the future, she should learn some ways to stay young from her aunt.

Sasha sensed that something was off with Alena. She was in a good mood and had been restless throughout the treatment process, even behaving a bit over the top. The nurses in the ward shook their heads and suggested giving the doctor more sedatives. After examining her, the doctor said, "Dopamine, growth hormone, and oxytocin are being secreted a bit too much," and then translated it in simpler terms, "Maybe it’s just a lively stage of life."

The lively stage of life is also known as the familiar saying, "Spring has come, it’s XX season."

There are many races in Europa, but there are few creatures like humans. Even human females have a monthly disaster of blood, and they need hot water to ease it. For other races, their mating periods are even more troublesome. Blood descendants technically don’t have this restriction, but those who have longer lifespans often only have a few opportunities to bear children in their lifetime. For someone with a cold personality like Alena, it’s normal for her to never encounter such situations in her entire life.

"Shouldn’t you go on blind dates?" Sasha asked.

As soon as these words were spoken, Alena immediately stopped all attempts at flirting and became poised and obedient, saying, "Please don’t."

"I’m not forcing you to get married, but you’re also of age. You can’t escape it once a year. It’s the rule," Sasha said. Within the community, unmarried men and women must go on at least one blind date pairing per year. It’s better for blood descendants to marry blood descendants, and it’s best for people from the same village to marry each other. These are the thoughts of some elders. Sasha neither approves nor disagrees with this, as it’s not her who is being forced to go on blind dates.

Alena sighed, "It’s really troublesome."

"You can bring your partner back, as long as they are a normal person. I can even accept you bringing back a weird creature like an octopus or something. But you have to move out. I don’t want the whole house smelling like seafood," Sasha said calmly.

Alena blushed and said, "Sometimes I feel like, Auntie, you’re really knowledgeable about these things."

"Yes," Sasha said. "I know everything I should know. I’ve had systematic learning and was very interested when I was young. So I’ve studied a lot of specialized books."

"Specialized?"

"They were even more fancy and bizarre than the ones played in the empire era, not lower-class at all."

She used to be the captain of an assassination squad, and when she found out that you have a connection with me, she thought it was suitable for assassination. So, occasionally, when facing certain people, she would deliberately set up traps with a few socialites and prostitutes… But her main interest is not this, it’s the fantasy of putting these theoretical knowledge into practice… Fantasy, she’s not the only one who holds such fantasies.

Sasha rested her chin on her hands, immersed in memories, then numb, lowering her head to look at her reflection and figure in the water with a blank expression on her face. Suddenly, she also felt that even if she aged, it didn’t matter anymore. Keeping this youthful and beautiful appearance, who would she show it to? Always holding on to that strand of hope, refusing to grow old, right?

Feeling tired, Sasha wanted to rest. She got up, planning to go back and give her exhausted and old soul some rejuvenation.

After changing into different clothes and walking through the corridor, she suddenly felt a gaze, not clear, appearing intermittently in the surrounding space, without a physical form.

"Who’s there!" Sasha asked in a low voice. Was it a prankster or an enemy?

She quickly made a judgment in her heart, preparing to activate the Holy Domain, but she reacted a moment too late. A hand slapped her shoulder, taking this space along with it. Sasha disappeared from her original location, leaving behind only a circular pit.

In the blink of an eye, Blood Noble found herself on a pure white rocky ground. She looked around, the scenery unfamiliar, the sunlight pale.

A young man ahead, twenty steps away, said, "Welcome to Broken Paradise."

He looked at her, just like when the boy first met the girl, his eyes were gentle.

After being apart for 500 years, they met again.